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| Ruben Amaro Jr (R) was fired by the Phillies back in September 2015 (Photo: D. Benjamin Miller) |
It has been almost exactly three years since the Philadelphia Phillies parted ways with former general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. For many fans of the team it was a move that took far too long for the organization to make.
Amaro inherited a team that had won the 2008 World Series championship. The club continued to contend over the first three seasons of his tenure largely thanks to a core group of players put together by the previous regimes under Ed Wade and Pat Gillick.
The club would lose the World Series in Amaro’s first season as general manager, then went out in the NLCS in 2010 and the NLDS in 2011. As that group aged, Amaro proved incapable of transitioning the franchise successfully.
The Phillies slipped to the .500 mark in 2012, to a losing record in 2013, and to last place in the NL East in 2014. Finally, the club plummeted to the worst record in baseball during the 2015 season, and Amaro was out.
He was not out of baseball for long. That winter the former player turned in his GM suits for a return to his uniformed roots, taking a job as the Boston Red Sox first base coach and outfield instructor. After two years in Beantown, Amaro moved on to New York where he served this season as the Mets first base coach.
And now the 53-year-old is contemplating a step back up the baseball ladder. According to an interview with Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic, Amaro is considering taking a run at the Mets general manager position. He may also be looking towards an opportunity to actually manage a Major League Baseball team.
“…keeping an open mind that if there are opportunities to be back in the front office, I still feel like I have a lot to offer in that regard as well. I felt like being back on the field would give me a different and interesting perspective as a far as doing a better job as a GM, and trying to improve my information resources. I’m open-minded. If you were to ask me if I would like my next step to be a GM or a manager, I guess it would be a toss-up.”
According to Amaro, he has let the Mets know of his interest in their open GM position. He told Rosenthal that the team was “appreciative of my interest“, which sounds little more than a tacit openness to offer him the chance to interview for the position.
Phillies fans would be skeptical of any such opportunity afforded a man who they largely abhorred by the end. They might, however, be happy to see him making key decisions for those division rivals up north at Citi Field.
“I know toward the end of my tenure as a GM in Philadelphia, I was not received well,” Amaro told Rosenthal. “But I do feel grateful that I got to be a part of the rebuild when (former GM) Ed Wade started it. I feel great about being able to work for a Hall of Famer in Pat Gillick, getting advice from guys like Dallas Green and utilizing it for success. Being part of that Phillies success in 2007 through 2011 was something really, really special for me, and something I’ll never forget.”
Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr considers taking an MLB managerial shot"
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